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Leandro Barbosa

Position	Point guard/Shooting guard
Nickname	LB, Leandrinho, The Brazilian Blur
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight	188 lb (85 kg)
Team	Phoenix Suns
Nationality	Brazil
Born	November 28, 1982 (age 24) São Paulo, Brazil
Draft	28th overall, 2003 San Antonio Spurs
Pro career	1999–present
Former teams	Palmeiras (1999-2001) Bauru Tilibra (2001-03)

Leandro Mateus Barbosa (born November 28, 1982 in São Paulo) is a Brazilian professional basketball player, who plays at the guard position with the Phoenix Suns in the National Basketball Association. He is also known as Leandrinho, or "Little Leandro". In the NBA, he is known as "The Brazilian Blur," due to his exceptional quickness with and without the ball. In the locker room he is referred to as "LB" by his teamates and Suns staff.

At 6'3" with a 6'10" wingspan, he was selected 28th overall in the 2003 NBA Draft by the San Antonio Spurs but his rights were acquired on draft day by the Suns in a trade for a future protected first-round pick. Barbosa holds the Suns record for points scored in a game by a rookie as a first-time starter, with 27 against the Chicago Bulls on January 5, 2004. Barbosa is also a good three point shooter. He set the Suns record for three-point field goals made by a rookie in consecutive games, when he hit at least one three-pointer during a ten-game streak between January 2-January 19.

Barbosa holds career averages of 11.2 points, 2.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 24.6 minutes per game.

In the current 2006-07 season (as of March 18th), Barbosa is averaging 17.5 points, 2.7 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 32.4 minutes per game.

Between March 7 and 12, 2007, Barbosa scored 32 points (career-high) in two of three games he played (vs. the Charlotte Bobcats, vs. the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets and vs. the Houston Rockets).

Barbosa is considered one of the favorites to win the NBA 2006-07 Sixth Man of the Year.[1]

Career transactions

• Drafted: 2003, 1st round, 28th pick by San Antonio Spurs
• Draft rights traded by Spurs to Phoenix Suns for conditional 1st-round pick (2005 #30 - David Lee) on 26 June 2003
• Signed by Suns to three-year, $2.6 million contract with team option worth $1.7 million on 16 July 2003
• Signed a five-year, $33 million contract extension with the Suns on 3 August 2006

Trivia

• According to Barbosa, part of his talent can be attributed to the strange habit of eating a blended mixture of raw liver and beans. He says that it is hard to do, but without it he feels weak. [2]

External links

• NBA Profile
• 2003 Draft Profile